A known construction for mounting an automatic transmission shift control in a truck cab is shown in Prior Art FIG. 1 of the drawings. The view is taken from the left front of the vehicle. The shift control comprises an assembly 10 that is mounted by a system of various mounting brackets. Such brackets are stamped metal parts. The assembly 10 is a mechanism that includes a shift handle 12, a lever for example, for operating the shift control to different positions that place the vehicle's automatic transmission in corresponding gears, PARK, REVERSE, NEUTRAL, and one or more forward DRIVE gears. Operative coupling of the shift control to the transmission is by a sheathed cable 14. One of the mounting brackets is a cable hanger bracket 16 that engages the cable sheath to ground the sheathed cable proximate the shift control. Other mounting brackets 18, 20 fasten to opposite sides 22, 24 of the shift control body. A face plate 26 covers the shift control body and contains a slot through which shift handle 12 passes from the shift control mechanism to a grip that can be manually grasped by the driver of the truck to operate the shift control to place the transmission in a desired gear.
The present invention relates to a novel one-piece mounting bracket for mounting a shift control in a truck cab. The inventive mounting bracket reduces the number of separate parts that must be assembled together to install a shift control in a vehicle. Moreover, the inventive mounting bracket possesses certain symmetry that enables it to be used in both right- and left-hand drive vehicles, thereby eliminating a need for unique parts for each of those types of vehicle.
The foregoing, along with further features and advantages of the invention, will be seen in the following disclosure of a presently preferred embodiment of the invention depicting the best mode contemplated at this time for carrying out the invention. The disclosure includes drawings, briefly described as follows.